Square Enix preparing "sharp," "powerful," and "well made" titles for showcase at E3 2018; will not rule out any IPs for the Nintendo Switch

[Aquaberry 759]

During their quarterly briefing on November 8, 2017, Square Enix revealed some interesting information regarding games releasing the next fiscal year* and those being planned for the Nintendo Switch.

 

Square Enix stated that they have kept their fiscal year forecast unchanged as there are "no big games planned" for release between now and March 2017.

 

The global titles Square Enix plan to release next fiscal year are being prepared to showcase at E3 2018, and have been described as "sharp," "powerful," and "well made."

 

On the Nintendo Switch, Square Enix commented that its core architecture is similar to that of the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One; therefore, while some adjustments would be necessary, there is definitely a possibility of developing games for all three platforms. Square Enix also stated that the Switch's momentum is very strong, and unique compared to the positions of PS4 and Xbox One, and that Nintento have done well for the company. They asserted that they are good at making middle-ranged games, and that the Switch is an ideal platform for such games.

 

Lastly, Square Enix will not rule out any IPs when "agressively" making games for the Switch; this means the Switch could see not only new Square Enix games, but also currently active and non-active ones. These games may possibly be made multi-platform.

 

*This refers to April 1, 2018 to March 31, 2019.

 

Kingdom Hearts III is one of Square Enix's international titles releasing next year on the PS4 and Xbox One. Are you expecting to see more of the game at E3 2018, and if so, what kind of showcase and announcements are you looking forward to? Let us know in the comments below!

 

UPDATE [Nov 20, 2017]: Square Enix has released the outline from the recent FY2018 Q2 Results Briefing Session back on November 8th. The outline details the presentation giving at the press session from Square Enix President Yosuke Matsuda and Chief Financial Officer Kazuharu Watanabe. Their presentation gave more detail into the income from the previous quarter and an update on Digital Entertainment [games, manga, etc.] and predictions for Quarter 3 and beyond.

 

After the main presentation, several questions were asked about how profit from digital sales could improve game development, the possibility of bring titles to the Nintendo Switch, and new ideas for AI. You can read an excerpt below.

 

- Why is the balance of your content production account larger now than it was at the end of FY2017/3 even though “DRAGON QUEST XI” has already been released?

 

Development efforts for major titles are underway at both our overseas and domestic studios. We will be making announcements about the release dates of those titles between the end of FY2018/3 and E3.

 

- Have your efforts to increase digital sales resulted in any changes to your approach to game development?

 

Now when we are developing the main titles, we in parallel also plan and develop things like post-launch updates and add-on services.

 

- Where do you intend to prioritize allocation of your development resources going forward?

 

We base our development resource allocations on the unique attributes of each platform. In particular, Nintendo Switch makes it easier for us to leverage our back catalog of assets and expertise, so we want to be proactive in creating new IP and rebooting past titles for that platform.

 

- What do you think about the current state of your smart device game business and where it is headed?

 

We now have an organization in place that should prevent us from repeating the same mistakes. Once you’ve improved upon quality issues, it all comes down to how fun the contents you produce are, so our next challenge will be to increase the success rate of our titles.

 

- What do you think of Nintendo Switch, and how are you approaching development efforts for it?

 

Nintendo Switch is seeing rapid uptake, and we welcome the arrival of such a platform. We intend to be proactive in our development efforts given that it’s a platform that is well suited to the mid-sized titles at which we excel.

 

- What is your policy on technological initiatives for AI?

 

We have used AI in some of our games up until now, but we are now researching a variety of potential applications including applying AI or automation to our development processes.

 

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[Headphone Jack 1,147]

"For E3 2018 we're preparing a showcase of well made games. As opposed to the poorly made games we showed off last year."

[ShatteredGem 99]

Kingdom Hearts III for Switch?

[Jeeg robot 97 15]

Square Enix you are making a big mistake. Ps4 is more powerful than Switch. Damn you Nintento. Kingdom Hearts was born on PlayStation.

[jvsdiniz@gmail.com 0]

"Kingdom Hearts III for Switch" I can only imagine something like this...

[somedayhunchback 213]

Does this mean we will soon find out what month in 2018 we will see Kingdom Hearts 3 come out in?

[AwesomeKHfan 1,250]

Does this mean we will soon find out what month in 2018 we will see Kingdom Hearts 3 come out in?

Well this is Nomura he will probably try to get the 7th month (which I highly doubt) or perhaps the 20th day of a month just cause the Keyblade War. I hope it will be Christmas OMG that would be so amazing for me because in December I got KH2 12 years ago next year

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3ALwKeSEYs

[KH4Real 749]

Square Enix you are making a big mistake. Ps4 is more powerful than Switch. Damn you Nintento. Kingdom Hearts was born on PlayStation.

It already comes out on Xbox One I don't see the problem here.

The HD Remixes are still Playstation exclusive but for how long.

[Jeeg robot 97 15]

It already comes out on Xbox One I don't see the problem here.

The HD Remixes are still Playstation exclusive but for how long.

I have no problem with Xbox One. But I don't want to see Kingdom Hearts 3 on Switch. There's no how far long. The remixes are Playstation exclusives. The word Only on PlayStation on the covers says everything.

[itsDON 66]

I wonder if anything will be shown at D23 Japan in February? Good to know that we will be "possibly" getting news in June though.

[MAtgS 70]

Square Enix you are making a big mistake. Ps4 is more powerful than Switch. Damn you Nintento. Kingdom Hearts was born on PlayStation.

If we wanna play that game, Final Fantasy was born on Nintendo. So I guess FF should've stayed Nintendo-exclusive. Of course if FF7-10 were Nintendo exclusives, Square probably would've released KH1 as a Gamecube exclusive out of habit for developing primarily on Nintendo platforms.

Edited November 10, 2017 by MAtgS

[LightKeyDarkBlade 72]

Kingdom Hearts III is confirmed to be there since it's coming out in the same year. It's also time for an update for Final Fantasy VII Remake.

 

KH3 shouldn't be released on Switch together with PS4 and Xbox One first. It's already difficult enough to work on both of these platforms. If they want to port it to Switch, it should be at least after its first launch.

[Exiblade7 1,917]

RIP kingdom hearts 3 Janurary-march 2018 release date 

[Alja 61]

Square Enix you are making a big mistake. Ps4 is more powerful than Switch. Damn you Nintento. Kingdom Hearts was born on PlayStation.

I would be thrilled to have all of KH on the Switch. KH was always half on Nintendo Consoles anyway, I dare say it was a mistake to bring the last title of a 9 part game series to a new console that had nothing to do with it before.

 

RIP kingdom hearts 3 Janurary-march 2018 release date 

Are there honestly people who still believed that although there is still hardly any infomation out, D23 being only scheduled in February AND there being no release date two months before said quarter?

[Exiblade7 1,917]

I would be thrilled to have all of KH on the Switch. KH was always half on Nintendo Consoles anyway, I dare say it was a mistake to bring the last title of a 9 part game series to a new console that had nothing to do with it before.

 

Are there honestly people who still believed that although there is still hardly any infomation out, D23 being only scheduled in February AND there being no release date two months before said quarter?

I guess you can say that and well it WAS still possible for it to have a March 2018 release date until SE said the they had no plans to release a big title for that part of the year 

 

also, the release date for kh3 is now looking more like Septempber-December now because of the high likeliness of it being at e3, at least, in my opinion. 

Edited November 20, 2017 by Zeldablade7

[Jeeg robot 97 15]

I would be thrilled to have all of KH on the Switch. KH was always half on Nintendo Consoles anyway, I dare say it was a mistake to bring the last title of a 9 part game series to a new console that had nothing to do with it before.

 

Well, Nomura will decide if doing that or not. I don't understand this excitement of Switch. I am starting to believe that Nintendo brainwashed everyone with this console.

 

[Alja 61]

I would be thrilled to have all of KH on the Switch. KH was always half on Nintendo Consoles anyway, I dare say it was a mistake to bring the last title of a 9 part game series to a new console that had nothing to do with it before.

 

Well, Nomura will decide if doing that or not. I don't understand this excitement of Switch. I am starting to believe that Nintendo brainwashed everyone with this console.

 

It's simple, a) KH released on the GBA, DS and 3DS, thus Nintendo deserves KH3 like 10 times more than Microsoft. b) I've grown up with Nintendo consoles as well as their games so it's natural for me to like it and I am sure other people share that sentiment and c) I personally still have to buy a PS4 and I will do it SOLELY for 2.8 and 3. If they would release the entirety of KH for the Switch, I wouldn't hesitate to get that console instead because of Nintendo exclusive titles. I know it's unlikely, especially since I want to play KH3 when it releases, but still.

 

And just because you don't see the merit in a console doesn't mean that other people have been brainwashed. People have different tastes.

[Jeeg robot 97 15]

It's simple, a) KH released on the GBA, DS and 3DS, thus Nintendo deserves KH3 like 10 times more than Microsoft. b) I've grown up with Nintendo consoles as well as their games so it's natural for me to like it and I am sure other people share that sentiment and c) I personally still have to buy a PS4 and I will do it SOLELY for 2.8 and 3. If they would release the entirety of KH for the Switch, I wouldn't hesitate to get that console instead because of Nintendo exclusive titles. I know it's unlikely, especially since I want to play KH3 when it releases, but still.

 

And just because you don't see the merit in a console doesn't mean that other people have been brainwashed. People have different tastes.

My only fear is that Kingdom Hearts won't appear in the PlayStation consoles anymore.

[MAtgS 70]

My only fear is that Kingdom Hearts won't appear in the PlayStation consoles anymore.

That would only happen if Playstation consoles stop existing altogether, which isn't even remotely likely.

[The Transcendent Key 12,109]

Thanks for showing this to us, Aquaberry!

 

Oh, I'm confident that we'll get Kingdom Hearts III at E3! It's only a matter of time!